D.C. roots rockers, Crooked Tree, are back in their hometown and joined us for our 5GB series before their show at the Rock & Roll Hotel.

What’s the first gig you ever attended?

Most of us have grown up surrounded by music, whether in church, synagogue, or just tagging along to something we didn’t care about at the time with our parents. Our first concert memories are actually fairly rich and diverse. Our keys player Dave’s first was the Thompson Twins. Other firsts for us were Paul McCartney at Giants Stadium, The Rolling Stones at Fed Ex field, and Hank Williams, Jr. with Merle Haggard. Pretty good line up to take your concert virginity. I think we were pretty lucky to have families that gave us these opportunities.

What is the best gig that you ever played/performed?

We just recently performed at a great venue in Northern Virginia called Iota sharing the bill with Kevin Gordon, who is a popular singer/songwriter out of Nashville. He asked our singer Lara to come up and sing on a few tunes of his, which was huge for her since she has been a fan of his for a very long time. Wes, our bass player, shared a bill with BB King in Time’s square. Its tough to answer for us as Crooked Tree because the feeling on stage and sound in the house can be so much different. We’ve come off stage before feeling like crap, but then gotten great feedback from our friends and fans. We definitely love the venues in and around DC, especially RNR Hotel.

What is the best gig you have ever seen?

A couple of us really dig the jam band thing: Phish concerts, Wilco; Our drummer Ben saw the Dave Matthews Band at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. From Elvis Costello to Chick Corea, its a range of music and a lot of “best gigs.” Our guitarist and singer Jay was at The Black Crowes in Fort Mill, S.C. in ’95. These bands and shows had huge influence on us. Lara saw Julian Coryell opening up for Amy Mann here in DC at the 9:30 Club, which completely changed her outlook on performing music. She went from studying musical theatre to believing in personal authenticity and vulnerability on stage. Nothing against musical theatre, that show just made her realize that pretending was not what she wanted to do as a performer.

What is the gig you would most like to play?

Lets make it a tour. We would definitely hit Austin City Limits, and The Gorge in Washington State. Then we would travel back in time to play one of Levon Helm’s Rambles in NY. Finally we would head back home to DC and play the 9:30 Club. All of these performances would be sold out and everyone would be listening. See the next question for the line up…

What would be the lineup for your dream gig?

The line up for the Crooked Tree dream tour would be insane, tour of the century, and scientifically impossible. From stand up comedy with Louis CK opening the evening to an all night ambient jam session with Sigur Ros. Performing on the bill would be Gillian Welsch, Dylan, Neil Young, Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet, Delaney and Bonnie, Howlin’ Wolf, Cream, Gram Parsons, The Beatles, The Stones, DMB, Dar Williams, The Swell Season, John Hiatt, Tallest Man on Earth, American Music Club, and possibly a guest appearance by Jesus Christ. See you there.

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